JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

avaria
BAVARIA, Land in S. Germany, including Franconia. Jews
are first mentioned there in the *Passau toll regulations of
906. Their settlement was apparently connected with the trade
routes to Hungary, southern Russia and northeastern Germany.
A Jewish resident of *Regensburg is mentioned at the
end of the tenth century. The communities which had been
established in *Bamberg and Regensburg were attacked during
the First Crusade in 1096, and those in *Aschaffenburg,
*Wuerzburg, and *Nuremberg during the Second Crusade
in 1146–47. Other communities existed in the 13th century at
Landshut, Passau, *Munich, and *Fuerth. The Jews in Bavaria
mainly engaged in trade and moneylending. In 1276 they were
expelled from Upper Bavaria and 180 Jews were burned at the
stake in Munich following a *blood libel in 1285. The communities
in Franconia were attacked during the *Rindfleisch persecutions
in 1298. The *Armleder massacres, charges of desecrating
the *Host at *Deggendorf, Straubing, and Landshut,
and the persecutions following the *Black Death (1348–49),
brought catastrophe to the whole of Bavarian Jewry. Many
communities were entirely destroyed, among them *Ansbach,
Aschaffenburg, *Augsburg, Bamberg, *Ulm, Munich,
Nuremberg, Passau, Regensburg, *Rothenburg, and Wuer-
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zburg. Those who had fled were permitted to return after a
time under King Wenceslaus.
In 1442 the Jews were again expelled from Upper Bavaria.
Shortly afterward, in 1450, the Jews in Lower Bavaria
were flung into prison until they paid the duke a ransom of
32,000 crowns and were then driven from the duchy. As a result
of agitation by the Franciscan John of *Capistrano, they
were expelled from Franconia. In 1478 they were expelled from
Passau, in 1499 from Nuremberg, and in 1519 from Regensburg.
The few remaining thereafter in the duchy of Bavaria
were expelled in 1551. Subsequently, Jewish settlement in Bavaria
ceased until toward the end of the 17th century, when a
small community was founded in *Sulzbach by refugees from
*Vienna. During the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14)
several Jews from Austria serving as purveyors to the army or
as moneylenders settled in Bavaria. In this period a flourishing
community grew up in Fuerth, whose economic activities
helped to bring prosperity to the city. After the war the
Jews of Austrian origin were expelled from Bavaria, but some
were able to acquire the right to reside in Munich as monopoly
holders, *Court Jews, mintmasters, and physicians. Several
Court Jews belonging to the Frankel and *Model families
Map of Bavaria showing Jewish population centers from the tenth century to 1932-33.
228 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3